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Linden World
Linden World (LW) was both Second Life's original name, used during the Alpha testing phase, and also the name of the Linden-run, resident-built theme park that was in Luna and Coney. =LindenWorld: Original Name= "Second Life" was chosen as the new name before going into Beta phase. Robin Linden explained how "Second Life" was chosen in this forum thread (dead link): :"Originally, during the Alpha period, the grid was known as Lindenworld. As we were getting ready to launch the Beta, we decided we needed a name that would convey the expansiveness, involvement and complexity we hoped would characterize this world as it grew. We started by debating the merits of a 'place' name versus a 'descriptive' name. We believed a place name would give people a sense of destination, and possibly some added layer of meaning. And we thought a descriptive name would help people understand this new concept of a shared, 3D collaborative space. :We had a lot of ideas for place names --- one of my favorites was Sansara, which was not only euphonic, but had an interesting meaning in the original Sanskrit, meaning roughly 'ever changing world'. Ultimately, though, we chose to go with a descriptive name, and looked at many derivatives of Terra, Viva, and life. We kept coming back to Life2, and then landed on Second Life as more interesting, more evocative and more what we hoped the world could become as it evolved and grew to be as big as life. :And that's how it came about!" Images =Linden World: The Amusement Park= On September 25th, 2003, Governor Linden declared that Second Life should have an amusement park and it should be named Linden World! On the same day, Haney Linden announced to the residents that 38 lucky creators would get the chance to help build SL's first amusement park. Any resident who was at least a month old could apply for a plot, with the winners being randomly selected and assigned plots which they could then buy tax-free (purchase price only, money was refunded on release)! Success of attractions was measured with the newly-concieved traffic-measuring system of dwell. The most successful concessionaires got to leave their attractions out to be enjoyed, while those that were not successful had to move on to make way for new exhibitors. Admission and betting were allowed, but selling of items was not. Residents were also restricted to one voting station per parcel and only 400 prims. LindenWorld (1.0) had its grand opening on Monday, October 13th (5 PM PST), 2003, and a large party celebrating the event with Philip Linden as a special guest! The park spanned two sims (Coney and Luna) and featured many different types of rides, rollercoasters, fun/spook houses, carnival like games and more. LindenWorld opened to much fanfare and many visitors flocking to the amusement park. The first run of LindenWorld (1.0) spanned from its opening on October 13th to October 27th. In the end, the top winners earned over one thousand in dwell, with Ama Omega (at the time owner of Omega Games) coming in at number one with 13413 in dwell, and Ezhar Fairlight in second with 12838 dwell. The top 19 were invited back for another month in LindenWorld and the top 4 being given the option to double their parcel size. "LindenWorld 1.1" or "LindenWorld 2" started taking applications on November 3rd, 2003. This time there were only 4 spots to fill due to people from LW 1.0's waiting list being automatically entered into LW 1.1. Requirements were the same as LW 1.0 with the only change being the "must have joined before" date changed to October 1st (later changed to just two weeks). Residents were allowed to begin building on November 5th and the competition for dwell started on the 17th, with an ending date set to November 30th. LW was hidden from the public eye during the building phase of LW 1.1 and brought back online on the 17th for residents to attend. At this point LW had grown to be one of SL's most popular attractions and by the end of only the first six days (November 25th) the accumulated dwell count was over 3000. When LindenWorld 1.1 came to a close on December 1st, the end dwell total was over 14000. The number one spot once again went to Ama Omega with 14070 in dwell and Sinatra Cartier, creator of the famous Spook House, came in second with 2490. The third incarnation of LindenWorld came after Version 1.2 of Second Life was released. This meant new changes to the way some things were handled. Along with the changes brought by 1.2, Linden Lab decided to use Luna for the Luna Oaks project and cut Linden World down into Coney only. Half of Coney became Linden-owned, giving the few people who were able to get plots more prims to build with. A drastic change was that buying a plot of land for Linden World would count against your overall land tier, this caused much outcry as LW was previously "tax-free", and land tiers kind of acted as the new tax, so some were not expecting the new rule. One large benefit to participants was that the dwell they earned would be counted towards Developer Incentives, meaning that residents could earn real money from their attractions. The top 16 dwell earners from the previous LW were given first choice of plots again, or they could pass and others from the waiting list would get the opportunity. LindenWorld 1.2 was slated to start January 5th. Howeverm it seems all records regarding LW 1.2 after Haney's announcement are either missing or never happened (there are lots of posts asking "what happened" to it, but no real answers). However, it is a fact that, after 1.2, Linden World never returned to its previous level of success and popularity. This could be due to Linden Lab's changes to the process and land management, or due to general lost of interest. Eventually, Coney dissapeared from the map, its server most likely renamed and used for another project (guesses point to the city Nova Albion), and with it, Linden World dissapeared as well. The original pillars that marked the begining of the road into Linden World are still on the border of Dore and Bonifacio where the road now leads to a causeway into the city sims of Nova Albion. After Linden World's disappearence, a few resident-operated amusement parks started up, such as a small one in Blue, and the private island Spitoonie which served as one giant amusement park. Currently, a few attractions that were in Linden World can be found in different places around Second Life, such as Sinatra Cartier's Spook House and Ezhar Fairlight's games, among others. In the end, Linden World was a great experiment that gave many fond and fun memories as well as showcasing some neat creations. It sparked some imaginative ideas and gave rise to creative projects that might otherwise have gone undone. Links *Haney Linden Announces Linden World (also posted dwell results and other information concerning first run) *Haney asks for comments/questions about LW *Application thread for Linden World 1.0 *Community outreach for those who may need help, a good example of the 1.0 community *NWN Archives article on Linden World (scroll down) *Haney asks residents what their favorite Linden World attraction is and why *Linden World 2 (1.1) announced as well as a hiding of the sims during development announcement later on *LW 2 (1.1) application page (no replies) *LW 2 (1.1) First six days fwell stats *LW 2 (1.1) end fwell statistics are released for November 17th through December 1st *Linden World and 1.2 announcement Images (Images from NWN Archives) Category:Historical Locations